1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a plurality of image forming units developing and visualizing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier employed for a photocopier, an image recording apparatus, a printer, a facsimile and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In a related art image forming apparatus printing a multi-color image, plural image forming units developing and visualizing a latent image formed on a latent image carrier are disposed in parallel on a transfer belt tightly stretched by tension members such as a drive roller and a tension roller (e.g., Japanese Un-examined Patent Application Publication No. H07-104609).
Such a related art image forming apparatus cited in the above document, however, has a longer depth thereof due to a parallel disposition of the plurality of image forming units, resulting in an increase in an overall size thereof.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reducing a size thereof while reducing occurrences of print quality deterioration due to the reduced size thereof.